This invention is directed toward a shower curtain deflector which can be produced economically and installed easily without assembly. The deflector is of a simple design that attaches rotably to the shower curtain rod with an elongated portion which pushes the shower curtain away from the user due to counterweighted portion which hangs on the tub side of the shower curtain. Because the device hangs directly from the shower curtain support rod it is simple to install, does not interfere with a user's ability to get into the shower and leave the tub quickly, and does not pose a danger should the user fall against the curtain or have to push his/her way out through the curtain. A user only need use two units to effectively restrain the shower curtain. Because the device is small and simple, it is inexpensive and easy to manufacture and package.
The use of tubs for bathing dates back to Merano Italy where there is evidence from more than 5000 years ago that human would use hot springs and try to contain them for bathing purposes. It appears that humans began to use showers as we know them today sometime later, in the early 1800's with the advent of indoor plumbing and water pressure, and the earliest shower curtain appears in the 1800's. Many bathtubs which contain showers are quite narrow, particularly older bathtubs. Over the same centuries in which humans have developed bathtubs and shower curtains, they have been evolving into a taller, and, unfortunately in most cases, a wider and heavier species. As a result, there is frequently very limited space for a human when he/she is using a shower.
Even in cases where the bathtub has been designed wide enough to comfortably house a human, an unweighted or freely hung shower curtain will often move inward, away from the shower edge and onto the human user due to the Bernoulli effect, which is a natural tendency of objects to move toward areas of low pressure caused by a fluid (water droplets from the shower) moving past at a high rate of speed. When a shower is on, the water droplets move in a relatively constant direction with considerable velocity. This causes the air particles caught in between the water droplets to be dragged along with the droplets away from the conical area defined by the moving droplets to the bottom or back of the tub, where there velocity of the water droplets stops as they hit porcelain or tile. The result is that there is a low pressure area in the conical area defined by the shower and since air will move from an area of relatively high pressure (outside of the cone) to an area of low pressure (inside the cone), there is a constant rush of air from the sides of the cone into the cone. Since many shower curtains seal well with the sides of the shower stall and the top of the bathtub, it is difficult for air to rush into the vacuum other than to “climb” over the shower curtain rod. Thus, there is an inward “pull” exerted on the shower curtain itself as the air between the shower curtain and the shower cone is sucked into the shower cone, thereby pulling the shower curtain into the void between the shower cone and the previously located shower curtain. This rather scientifically clinical and sterile sequence of events has the unpleasant result of having a cold and clammy shower curtain move against a shower user with distasteful results. Accordingly, there has existed a long-felt need for a device which not only provides additional showering space in a tub by moving the shower curtain away from the user, but also restrains the shower curtain to prevent the same from being pulled against a user due to the Bernoulli Effect.
There have been numerous attempts to design a shower curtain arrangement to prevent water spillage, including U.S. patent application No. 20020189001 to Hess, U.S. patent application No. 20040007335 to Cheng, U.S. patent application No. 200100039677 to Bryce, U.S. patent application No. 200401074973 to Orpilla, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,848 to Cheng. While all of these inventions teach some use of shower curtain, the inventions all deal with using the shower curtain in a unique manner to prevent water from escaping the tub enclosure and do not address the problem of a shower curtain which swings inward upon a user turning on the shower.
Also relevant are U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,642 to Eherhardt and U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,699 to Junius, both of which teach methods of hanging shower curtains. Again, while these patents add to the technology behind the hanging of shower curtains, neither teaches a solution to the problem addressed by this invention. The prior art does contain several examples of attempts to resolve the problem of a shower curtain swinging in toward a user while the show is one. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,504 to Steiner teaches an apparatus for use with a conventional bathtub which has multiple, semi-rigid ribs which are attached to both the shower curtain rod and the bathtub edge. The ribs bow out and are attached to the outer surface of the shower curtain, thereby causing the shower curtain to bow out along the contour lines established by the ribs. While this invention does effectively hold the shower back from swinging in against a user, it is, compared to the current invention, expensive, time consuming to assemble, difficult to package for retail, and hard to adjust. Indeed, the invention must be either partially dissembled or at least moved as unit to the side every time a user enters or leaves the bathtub. There is also a possible danger to the user should he or she have to leave the tub quickly as the ribs are not designed for easy removal; thus a user might end up breaking the ribs and possibly incurring cuts or impalements should he/she have to break through the ribs to leave the tub quickly.
Another invention which addresses the issue is U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,420 to Micciche, which teaches a horizontal rod stretched horizontally across the space a couple of feet above the outer edge of the tub. While this invention does provide a viable solution for the problem of a shower curtain moving in against a user, it is relatively cumbersome (the rod comes in two pieces, each attached to a “quasi-box brace structure” which is attached to the wall surrounding the tub, and to use the invention a user must attach the two parts of the rod together and then detach them and hang them along the sides of the tub to leave the tub). This invention is also, relative to the current invention, expensive, large, difficult to assemble, requires a user to make a permanent attachment to the walls on either side of the tub, and is difficult to package for retail sales. As with the '504 patent, this invention also presents a danger to the user should the user fall out of the tub or need to step out of the tub quickly, as he/she could fall over the horizontal bar.
A final attempt to solve this problem is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,541 to Annand. This patent teaches a device which is attached along with the shower curtain to the rings hanging down from the shower curtain support rod. There is a weighted rod which is rotably attached to an elongated member which then pushes out against the shower curtain. While this device does appear to effectively restrain the shower curtain, it is, relative to the current invention, expensive, difficult to manufacture, package, and assemble, and from the figures attached appears to require more than two such units to function effectively.
Thus there has existed a long-felt need for a safe, easy to assemble, inexpensive device which keeps a shower curtain from swinging in and either decreasing the usable area during a shower, or, worse yet, touching the user with its cold, clammy surface and wrapping around the user's leg, and allows easy access and exits from the tub.
The current invention provides just such a solution by having a shower curtain deflector which can be produced economically and installed easily without assembly. The deflector is of a simple design that attaches rotably to the shower curtain rod with an elongated portion which pushes the shower curtain away from the user due to counterweighted portion which hangs on the tub side of the shower curtain. Because the device hangs directly from the shower curtain support rod it is simple to install, does not interfere with a user's ability to get into the shower and leave the tub quickly, and does not pose a danger should the user fall against the curtain or have to push his/her way out through the curtain. A user only need use two units to effectively restrain the shower curtain. Because the device is small and simple, it is inexpensive and easy to manufacture and package.